Hi All, I've been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years (turning 49 next month). I have no plans to participate in competitions, but truly believe that building my muscle mass is the key to a successful journey through menopause and my elder years. I think I first started working with weights when I was around 15 and always found they were the quickest way to get me into shape. I've been very consistent with my fitness for the last 5 years with weights being the cornerstone of my program, I'm not a big fan of most cardio. I'm a home exerciser using primarily Cathe Friedrich's DVDs. Her recent focus has been on metabolic workouts. Although I've found these effective, my body is really craving more heavy weights right now. I'm reading an e-book by Michael Matthews and bought a couple of cookbooks that he has written as well. They seem nutritionally sound, so I'l try to incorporate his program soon. I'm working on my Master's and my time is pretty limited.

BTW, I noticed that we're way exceeding the goals for this group. Maybe time to raise the bar. We can do it!

That's awesome and welcome to the team! Sorry to hear about your Arthritis... my grandfather has arthritis in his hip, and he's always in a lot of pain (not that it stops him getting to his golf game!)

I think strength training is soo important for people from all walks of life...

RENNAGADE have you tried the workout generator? http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_plan_generator.asp you just enter the kind of workout you are after, and it will give you a few options, complete with wee videos, which is really useful if you want to try something new!

And you can always modify the usual chin-ups, pushups, etc with extra weight/one arm at a time, etc. I get bored easily too, so I'm always googling different modifications for my favourite exercises, and working on my form so I can increase weight resistance, etc.

Hi, I just saw the note about this group on one of the other vegetarian teams. I'm not a competition bodybuilder! Far from it. But I'm a lifelong vegetarian who has been working hard at strength training for the past year and a half. I always avoided ST because it gave me bad flashbacks to my high school athlete years. Now I'm 43, have arthritis in my spine, and have learned the hard way that ST and muscles are my friends! I expect to be doing some form of ST for the rest of my life, to help support my spine and hips and because now that I'm strong, I love feeling this way.

I'd lost weight with WW in the past, but didn't eat well doing it. Lots of sugar and very little protein. No wonder it took me so long. This time around, I'm focused on the protein. I don't like eating too much soy (affects my mood and I avoid GMOs) so I'm always looking for protein boosts from other sources.

Deadlifting is my favorite thing in the world. Working on my grip so that I can up my weight. Thanks for reactivating this team!

hi all. i'm a 56 year old. i've been vegan for 2 years, and am trying to get myself back to a toned body. i hit the gym almost every morning, and try to ride my bike 30 to 60 miles a week. when i'm at the gym i tend to do upper body only unless it's a week with a lot of bad weather and i can't ride my bike. but my upper body workouts are not very efficient. does anybody have any suggestions on an upper body workout that can be done over a 5 day period in about 20 -25 minutes a day.

we really need to get this team moving again! over 200 members and absolutely no action??

Is anyone prepping for a competition or sports event? Trying any new eating regimes?

Personally, I've definitely been feeling stronger, but I really need to start focusing on a cutting diet in order to get my summer bod! It's also a wee bit of practice for when I decide to do my first competition...

If anyone has any cutting advice for an ovo-vegetarian, for leaning out while maintaining muscle it would be much appreciated!

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